Unilever Company Case Study

Anglo-Dutch consumer product from Unilever decided to grant 100,000 individual flexible working hours so they can have a positive employment practice. The company did a trail run of Agile Working in one of their sites and saw how successful it was and then offered this flexible work program to many more employees. Unilever purchased technology equipment so their employees can complete their work outside of their office. The technology that has been handed to the employees has had a good response because the technology has helped the employees work effectively. The way the flexible working program changed the employees also changed the way the company thinks and the approach that was used in human resources also changed. Managers also changed
• Technology has helped employees work effectively.
• Changed the way the company thinks and also changed human resources.
• Managers are more lenient on employees work attire, how many long hours they work, and their attendance.
• Managers just focus on how well employees complete their work.
• Results of the program have been positive, employees are more satisfied, more people were hired, and employees feel healthier and are less stressed.

1. Based on Unilever’s Agile Working program, what else can human resource professionals do to facilitate work-life balance in organizations? What other opportunities could Unilever offer its employees to enhance work-life
For example, if someone does their work in the same place every time then their productivity may decrease whereas if you let the employee choose where he or she wants to do his or her work at they’ll be more relax and more concentrated on the task that he or she is working on. Another example is myself because when it comes to writing papers I never do them at school for the reason being that I cannot concentrate because there are a lot of distractions happening around me. So I write my papers at home in my room because that’s where I fully concentrate solely on my paper. Yes, I believe that there are disadvantages associated with flexible work arrangements because some employees may feel they are isolated from their coworkers (Chapter 4, page 140). For example, when employees need to work as a team on a project some employees may be working from their homes which can lead employees to be isolated from their task to contribute to the project. Another disadvantage with flexible work arrangement is when working from home and your personal life intervene while working on work responsibilities (Chapter 4, page 141). An example of someone’s personal life intervening on work responsibilities might be when someone has a young child around while working at home, the child might be making a mess and causing trouble causing the parent to stop doing